WMU students working on new helmet technology to increase concussion awareness

Posted by Kevin McGuire on July 18, 2014, 10:29 AM EST

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The advances in football helmet technology have come a long way since first being worn in the sport, but today’s technology not only gives players and coaches a unique way of breaking down game film, but they can also shed some light on concussions.

Students at Western Michigan have been working on new helmet technology that uses a sensor to relay information to a smartphone so the severity of an impact can be known immediately. That information is then also stored on a server for later reference and use if needed. Massood Atashbar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Western Michigan, explained how it works to MLive.com.

“Basically, this device or system would eliminate the possibility of inaccuracies from field judgments made by coaches, who rely on the self-assessment or self-reporting of players,” Atashbar said. “The coach would receive real-time, actionable information when one of the players receives a potentially dangerous and serious impact to the head.”

In this day and age of increasing awareness to the long-term effects of head trauma, it is good to see this kind of research and development going on. This technology is still some time away from being implemented inside a football helmet on the field, but with investors and financial support it should just be a matter of time before players start using this sort of technology.

WMU; that helmet is already patented and being built and a prototype will be tested this fall. Beyond impact, but actually being able to monitor an EOG signal, in real time, and compare it to their baseline for differentials.